Damned Mask
by Tierra The Awesome
Summary: They started the bet 10 years ago, as Genin. Will they finally get it over with?  little KakaSaku, and a badass Sai moment.


**Damn Mask**

The start of the bet was declared almost ten years ago when they were only genin. And unfortunately, they were still at it, except that this time, there was a new member addition.

"Sai! Are you even listening to the rules?"

Sakura's arms wildly flew in the air, showing how angry she really was.

And the ANBU agent just looked at her casually, his eyes crinkling happily.

"I paid attention to a quarter of your explanation, Sakura-chan," he smiled.

The kunoichi bit back an arrogant groan and frustratingly crossed her arms, a frown managing to wrench itself onto her lips. Failing in the process of trying to cool her temper, she jack slapped Sai right in front of Naruto and Sasuke, leaving a very pink spot on his arm.

"You are all dimwitted," sighed Sasuke as he pressed his palm to his forehead, "Okay. Listen closely, Sai, or I'll have Sakura jack slap you again."

Sai grinned without fear. "Okay," he simply said.

"So…all we have to do is get that fucking mask off of Kakashi's face, got it?"

He repeated the same word in response with a bob of his head. "Okay."

"Good," muttered Sasuke, "Now, lets move out. I heard Hatake is hanging around the Barbe-Q restaurant today, so we cannot waste time. If we slack off too much, we might not be able to catch him before he locks himself in his stupid apartment."

"Geez, Sasuke!" huffed Naruto. "We could always break into his complex if he does lock himself in. You're so dumb sometimes, you know that?"

Oh boy, he knew he hit a chord with that one.

"Dope!" he growled as he thumped him harshly on the head. "I will _kill_ you!"

Sakura immediately pushed the both of them apart, ignoring the small self-controlled laugh that Sai was creating. "I thought you said that we shouldn't waste time!"

Sasuke, growing a tad bit red, lost some of his cool composure and silently cursed under his breath, the string of bad words shocking the other three ninja. Well for one thing, he had said 'fuck' almost ten times and 'fag' five.

"Hey, aren't we supposed to be hunting for Kakashi?" questioned Sai oh-so-innocently. "I thought we're not allowed to slack off. And it's odd that you're the one who's doing the slacking, Sasuke."

Sai, knowing that he had definitely pushed the Uchiha over the limit, stepped to his right, avoiding the incoming punch that Sasuke had launched. Fortunately, it didn't hit him. Unfortunately, it hit Naruto on the head and knocked him cold.

**. . .**

Naruto was the first to try.

The yellow-haired ninja 'sauntered' over to the table where Kakashi Hatake, the Great Copy Ninja, was seated at. Without permission, he settled himself on the chair across the jounin and dug his face deep into his arms, trying his best to fake a whimper.

"…H-Hi…Kaka…shi."

He assumed that the ninja bought it.

"Naruto, are you alright?" asked Kakashi, his finger poking at Naruto's arm.

Naruto secretly snickered.

"Hinata…dumped me," he sighed sadly, his blue eyes sliding closed.

Kakashi stared at Naruto for a long period of time before saying, "Oh, sorry about that."

The jinchuriki nodded slowly before faking yet another small cry. "I'm s-sorry for making you uncomfortable, Kakashi. I just…loved her so much that I…" He paused, struggling to think up the next few words to finish his sentence. "I was willing to sacrifice myself for her. That is how much I love her."

The silver-haired jounin frowned underneath his mask. "In that case…"

Suddenly, Kakashi spun around and punched Naruto's shadow clone right in the face, watching gleefully as the figure distorted and dissipated. Smiling underneath that stupid mask of his, he turned back to face the boy, only to find him yelling angrily.

"Damn you, Hatake! You hear me? _Damn _you!" he shouted, his hand slamming against the tabletop.

"Hey, hey," chuckled Kakashi, "You're ruining my meal."

Ignoring what he had said, Naruto continued loudly, "How did you know about the clone! Tell me! I demand an explanation, sensei!"

"For one thing," began the Copy Nin, "You paused for an unreasonable amount of time." He ran his fingers through his silver hair. "And I know how much Hinata loves you, Naruto. She would never break your heart. Finally, you said that you are willing to sacrifice your life for her. You practically do that for everyone, so what you've been trying to do is pretty much unconvincing."

"Are you telling me that I suck at acting?" gawked Naruto.

"Precisely," smiled Kakashi, "And - um - you're never going to get this mask off of me."

"Like I said…_damn_ you, Hatake!"

**. . .**

The four ninja followed Kakashi to the bookstore. And this time, it was Sakura's turn.

Shyly, she strode up next to him with a somewhat irritated expression put on. Eventually, she caught the corner of his single eye and he turned to face her calmly, his hand rising to the air.

"Yo, Sakura," he greeted, "Is there something you wanted?"

"Yeah, I need your help," she grunted grouchily, her hands fidgeting nervously.

He rose an eyebrow. "With what? Your training?"

"No." She twirled her pink hair around the tip of her finger. "Ino pissed me off."

"Again?" he wondered aloud.

She nodded solemnly. "She relentlessly teased me just because I haven't kissed anyone yet. It was so damn annoying that I stormed off, promising her that I would kiss someone by tonight. And I'm screwed if I don't…"

Honestly, Sakura hasn't kissed anyone and she wasn't very proud of it. She never had the time to strengthen her relationships with her guy friends and never bothered to even hook up with someone since she was eighteen. And that was two years ago. She blamed Tsunade-sama for all of this…

Anyways, she supposed that this plan would work. She would try to get Kakashi to kiss her so that she can finally see his face. Besides, he could be her first…

"So you're saying that you want me to kiss you?" he asked.

She hung her head. "Yeah…"

…Silence…

"I guess there's no harm in doing that."

Suddenly, she found his face nearing hers. She cupped his cheek gently, her fingers preparing itself to hook onto the edge of his mask. But just when she was about to tear it off, his masked lips pressed against hers.

And she could still taste him through that damned cloth!

A minute passed and he backed away slowly, his lone eye sparkling mischievously.

"You know, Sakura…you aren't that bad of a kisser," he remarked, "I can get used to this."

He turned his back on her, unaware of how shocked she was at the moment, and said, "Until next time…_darling_." He clearly emphasized the word 'darling'.

Not that she didn't like it or anything…

"Oi, Sakura-chan!" Naruto leaped from the rooftop with the other two and landed directly in front of her. "You didn't get his mask off! You're a complete failure, Pinky! Do you know how much you disappointed me? And I thought we had him!"

He kept rambling on, Sasuke silently muttering, "She managed to steal a kiss from the Great Hatake Kakashi, but he still had his mask on while she did so. Is that even called a kiss if his mask was in the way?"

"From the looks of her expression," began Sai, "It was definitely a real kiss."

**. . .**

Kakashi was sitting alone in the training field vicinity, his Icha Icha novel held close to his face. And since his mask was pooled around his neck, Sasuke found this as a chance to finally take a peek of what he has been hiding all those years.

"Kakashi, why are you here?" The Uchiha coolly strode up to the jounin, his voice calm like any other day.

"I visit this training field because it brings back memories," Kakashi replied nonchalantly, the book hiding the bottom-half of his face, "Why are _you_ here?"

Sasuke shrugged. "To train."

"Ah," he stated bluntly, "So I guess I am your opponent now?"

"Hn. Why not?" The black-haired ninja smirked inwardly, ready to put his plan into action.

Kakashi stood up with ease, the book still held close to him, and rolled his single eye toward his former student. Watching observantly, he suddenly jumped high into the air, avoiding the incoming wave of kunai. Just then, a line of shuriken was shot at him, and being unable to dodge this one, he bent far back, the weapons whizzing across his arms and hair.

Within a second, the Copy Ninja was back on the green prairie, standing steadily just like before.

"So you thought you can get me to drop this book, huh, Sasuke?" mused the jounin, his eye cringing happily. "Too bad you didn't."

Pulling the mask back up to his nose line behind the thick pages, he stuffed the novel back into his pocket and left the area, leaving Sasuke and his team to curse continuously to themselves.

**. . .**

They were outside of Kakashi's apartment complex, arguing back and forth, making complete fools out of themselves.

"Like I said before, let's break in!" hissed Naruto, his clenched fist rising in the air.

"No!" disagreed Sakura. "Stop suggesting pointless things, Naruto! They're never going to work!"

"I'm siding with Sakura on this one," breathed Sasuke, his eyes faintly glowing crimson.

"You know what, Sasuke? Your cool ego irritates me in so many ways!" snarled the jinchuriki. "Just fuck off a-"

"Hey."

The three leaf ninja averted their attention to Sai, who was quietly standing in the corner of the hallway. The ANBU agent nodded slowly as he received their glances and strode up to Kakashi's front door, raising his hand to knock.

"Sai…what are you doing?" asked Naruto, his voice nearly cracking.

"It's my turn, now." Sai's smile seemed too fake to believe.

Without further ado, his fist pounced against the door, a small echo bouncing off the plastered walls.

It was a while before Kakashi swung the entrance open. His mismatched eyes immediately were placed upon the four young ninja, and just like that, he frowned arrogantly and breathed slowly. Apparently, he didn't want to be a part of their child-like games anymore.

"What do you want?" he mumbled wearily, his sharingan eye closing.

Sai managed to get the man's attention on him. "Kakashi-senpai, what is underneath that stupid mask of yours?" he asked curiously and dumbly, his question surprising the jounin.

Kakashi gawked. "Stupid mask?"

"Yes. Sasuke referred your mask as to being 'useless' when they have told me about the bet."

He glowered. "You kids made a bet?"

"That doesn't matter at the moment, Hatake." Sai's voice suddenly grew stern. "All I want to know is if you're ever going to show us your damn face. Honestly, I've only indulged myself in this stupid bet for today, and I'm already finding it pointless. Plus, I cannot handle Naruto's complaints anymore."

Kakashi silently glared at Sai, fascinated that he was very mature about this.

Groaning inwardly, he replied, "No."

And that was when Sai kicked Kakashi directly on his balls. Just like that, the silver-haired ninja was sprawled across the ground, his hands placed on his groin, his wailing growing louder by the minute. Sai, ignoring the rising uproar, literally ripped the mask away, revealing the man's face.

And he looked _normal_. He didn't have blimp or tiny lips, an awkward jaw bone, nor pimples. In fact, he was gorgeous. Almost too handsome that Sakura nearly passed out.

Holding the shredded cloth in one hand, Sai laughed blandly and said, "I have his mask."

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura simply zipped their mouths shut, too afraid to speak to the ANBU, while Kakashi, on the other hand, rolled from side to side repeatedly as he tried biting back a pained shout.

A/N: This is exactly how weird Sai could get if he is ever led in the wrong direction.

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